


Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

by Copper_mouth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Magical Shenanigans, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, One-Sided Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, POV Outsider, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Resurrection, Underage Drinking, all of the ships are minor and mostly implied, at least in my mind, canon compliant except Steve didn't run off to the past, guess who's back! tell a friend, guess who's back? back again!, iron husbands is endgame here, look it's Tony you know the drill, pure self-indulgence, yay!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 21:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21063473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copper_mouth/pseuds/Copper_mouth
Summary: In which the new Avengers compound receives a lot of unexpected visitors and more than a few blasts from the past, and Steve wonders when his life became a telenovela.Yes, Tony Stark is back. But...there's something different about him. Oh yeah, he's 17.





	Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

**Author's Note:**

> This is 7000 words of pure indulgence, and not meant to be taken too seriously. Basically I started with the idea of the Avengers dealing with a teenage Tony Stark, but then when I was wondering where to fit it in the timeline, I realized after Endgame was the perfect <s>excuse to interject unnecessary drama</s> time. I was even thinking Stony at first, but then Tony and Rhodey had something to say about that. So, here we are with the light-hearted Iron Husbands Endgame fix-it nobody asked for.
> 
> This takes place about 2 years after Endgame. Clint ended up being surprisingly grumpy, but I'm not trying to bash him or anything. He's just got some mixed feelings about Tony, that's all. And Steve has some surprising feelings, at least to him, but you can interpret them as unwitting pining for Tony or just a general loneliness - however you want. _Sigh_. Oh, Steve.__
> 
> I honestly cannot believe that I wrote this all and posted it within one day – that is seriously out of character for me.
> 
>   
Further warnings, containing spoilers, in the end notes.

Natasha had come back a few days ago. There hadn’t been many people around, at the new compound, few enough that Steve was tensing up and gearing for a fight when he heard footsteps approaching the kitchen where they were all eating. Security was tight, or as tight as it could be without the help of one of Tony’s AIs, and no one had been cleared for arrival that evening. 

When he turned around and saw Natasha’s pale face staring back at him, he was even more sure they were being attacked. _This is bullshit_, he’d thought, having to deal with a new enemy as powerful and unscrupulous enough as to try to distract or disarm them with the image of their long-gone teammate. 

It was hard, though, to maintain the appropriate levels of fury and aggression as the interloper collapsed into a puddle on the floor in front of them. 

Steve nodded to Bruce, who rushed forward to take a look at her. “She’s out cold,” he said, then hesitated. “And there’s – there’s blood in her hair.” 

Steve swallowed and straightened out of his defensive stance. “Take her to medical but keep her in restraints until we figure out what’s going on and who she really is.” 

Bruce looked like he wanted to argue some of that, but he kept his peace and did as Steve asked. Later, he’d come up to Steve warily, with the face of someone who was about say something they knew the other person didn’t want to hear. 

“Steve,” he said quietly. “I don’t know how or why, but all my scans have come back, even the ones reliant on Wakandan technology – they all agree. It’s really her.” 

He didn’t believe it at first, of course, but after several hours of going through Bruce’s results, calling Shuri to verify, and speaking to the woman in question herself, Steve was forced to admit the undeniable. 

It really was Natasha. She was back. She was alive. 

They clung to each other and cried, swaying together in the medical bay with Natasha still in the hospital gown he knew she’d only put on to make Bruce feel a little better about her now-healing injuries. 

Within the hour Clint was on his way, and then the four of them were together and it almost felt like coming home, if part of your home had left to go flying around the galaxy and another part was burnt to a crisp and then buried in the ground. 

So at the end of the week when the compound received its next unexpected visitor, Steve, Bruce, Clint, and Nat were all there manning the fort together. Steve could be glad they were the ones who were there, at least, when he reflected back on all of the mind-bending events later. 

They were in the common area, huddled close and talking about nothing, just soaking up and enjoying each other’s presence, when the PA system clicked into life. 

Steve didn’t have time to be alarmed before a voice he hadn’t heard in – God, years – spoke up timidly. 

“Excuse me for the interruption, Avengers,” FRIDAY said, and only Natasha bracing him up kept him from sliding out of his chair in shock. 

FRIDAY had been silent since the moment Tony died. No one had heard her since – not Pepper, not even Morgan. They figured she had gone dormant with the death of her creator, and finally after many impassioned pleas for a response that never came had repartitioned her servers and deleted every file in her name. 

But – she was Tony’s AI. Of course she would end up doing something unexpected, and secretive, and troublesome, and wonderful. Apparently she had seen fit to upload herself quietly into the compound from wherever her self-imposed exile had led her. Steve would laugh if there was any air left in his lungs. 

“My scans indicate – “ she hesitated, sounding so damn human that tears pricked at the corners of Steve’s eyes. “An anomaly? I… don’t know – “ 

The AI trailed off in seeming frustration. They exchanged glances. Natasha took a deep breath, and Steve knew she would take point. After running the Avengers for years, she had worked with FRIDAY more than any of the rest of them here. 

“Just tell us what you see, FRIDAY. We’ll figure out where to go from there,” she said. Simple enough directions, but the AI rallied and resumed speaking with more confidence this time. 

“It’s Boss,” she said. Steve had to replay those words a few times in his head, for some reason the meaning not sinking in. “He appeared 6.7 minutes ago. He’s here. But, he’s…different. And he’s not responding to my inquiries.” 

Clint was the first out of them to be able to parse that. “Tony?” he asked, and Steve’s heart lurched in his chest. “He’s here?” 

“Yes,” FRIDAY said. Steve’s pulse was roaring in his ears now; he made to stand up but swayed back down immediately instead, suddenly light-headed and off balance. He was glad to be sitting down, though, to hear FRIDAY’s next words. 

“At least, some version of him is here. He seems to be from a different timeline, though. My scans indicate that he is 17 years old.” 

Silence fell as they all processed that. Steve really should be standing up now, he was almost sure of it. 

“But,” FRIDAY continued, hesitancy showing in her voice. “It doesn’t seem like, well, _our_ Tony was regressed into a younger age. It’s almost as if Tony was plucked straight out of 1987 and sent here just as he was back then.” 

“Great,” Clint snorted. “We just have to deal with a confused, time-traveling, spoiled-brat snobby rich kid that knows why he’s here just as much as we do – not at all!” 

Ok, that – Steve was not okay with that, at all. He did make it to his feet that time, but there was a sudden sound in the hallway, and the rest of the team stood up with him, and – 

There was Tony. 

Tony was here. 

A 17 year-old Tony Stark was standing in the corridor, leaning up against the wall he had skidded around and was gaping at them underneath a frizzy mop of hair and wide brown eyes that were so familiar it felt like a knife plunging into Steve’s chest. 

Tony was…covered in what looked like grease and motor oil, all the way up his ratty sweats and tank top to his face and everywhere left uncovered on his slight, adolescent frame. 

Steve didn’t quite have the presence of mind to catch Clint’s eye and shoot him a dirty look, but he definitely thought about it, and that had to count for something. 

Then, like a switch had been flipped, Tony gathered himself up with a grim composure that was all the more eerie for the way Steve knew his hands were shaking where he had tucked them under his folded arms. His face blanked out, then an effort at haughty disinterest passed over it like a cloud covers the sun, the diminutive of an expression Steve had seen Tony perfect hundreds of times in his adult life. 

“Howard doesn’t pay ransoms,” were the incongruous words that came out of Tony’s mouth. Steve stiffened as their meaning sank in, and impotent rage at the thought of what his erstwhile friend had become in fatherhood overtook him in a manner made familiar for all he’d felt it over the past years. 

Then Tony’s eyes locked onto him and grew round again as Tony gasped, raking his gaze all over him with an almost religious fervor. 

“C-Captain America?” he asked, voice squeaking adorably in the middle. 

Natasha stepped forward. Steve looked at her, almost thankful for the distraction from the heavy weight of Tony’s inspection, and he noted the calm and comforting expression she had adopted. 

Only back a few days and already she was slipping into her role as a natural leader within the team. _Always picking up after you boys_, her voice echoed in his head, and he smiled at the memory fondly. 

“I know everything is confusing right now, Tony,” Natasha said in a soothing tone of voice. “But we haven’t kidnapped you.” 

Whatever else she was about to say was interrupted by Tony laughing, a little breathlessly. “I know,” he said, slipping into an easy-going stance and lounging back up against the wall. That emotional whiplash as he tried to follow along with Tony’s ever-changing moods – Steve was familiar with that too. 

Tony continued. “Captain America wouldn’t kidnap anyone,” he declared. “He always does the right thing.” 

Even as quickly as the urge to refute that comment welled up within him, he could feel heat stinging his cheeks as he blushed. _What the hell are you doing,_ he asked himself mentally as Tony grinned and swaggered forward to plop his mess-covered self onto the couch and kick his feet up on the coffee table. _Get it together, Rogers_. 

There was a moment of silence as they all looked at each other uncertainly, and Tony started to fidget beneath their scrutiny. They were probably freaking him out more than he already was, Steve thought, since he knew he at least was torn between trying to figure out what was going and celebrating the presence of _any _Tony Stark after the years of missing him and trying to make everything work without him. 

“So,” Tony eventually drawled. “Is this an alternate dimension or something?” 

Bruce twitched forward, a giddy look appearing on his face that mirrored the feeling spreading throughout Steve. 

“Why is that your first conclusion?” he asked in all seriousness, as if that was the most important thing at hand to figure out. Clint groaned and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “science bros”. 

“Why not time travel?” Bruce followed up with. 

“Well for one,” Tony started. “There’s…you.” 

Bruce drew back in surprise and then glanced down at himself, as if suddenly remembering his transformation into a permanent state of large and green. 

“And for another,” Tony continued. “If I was traveling forward in time, which I clearly would be based on the technology I’ve seen since I’ve been here, I wouldn’t expect a middle-aged Captain America to be here.” 

Bristling, Steve wanted to refute that comment, because he was not _middle-aged_, thank you…was he? But Bruce beat him to it. 

“It could be either, or a bit of both,” he said. He caught his teammates’ glances as they all stiffened and glared at him. “Oh please, it can’t hurt to tell him. We have the technology to scramble these memories if he goes back, and you can’t tell me you think he wouldn’t figure it out anyways.” 

“We can scramble them only if we have an advance warning of him leaving,” Steve gritted out, but Tony interrupted. 

“So you _do_ you know me?” he asked brightly. “Where am I then? The me that lives here?” 

And there was the beginning of the headache-inducing questions. This was why they destroyed the time machine, Steve thought bitterly. 

Natasha had apparently decided to take her cues from Bruce and not hide or sugarcoat anything. She sat down beside Tony, propping her leg up on the couch so she could turn and face him as he regarded her curiously. 

“He passed away,” she said, and an indescribable look flashed across Tony’s face before it shuttered completely. Steve was pretty sure fear had been a part of it. “So you’ll have to excuse us if we look at you a little funny,” she continued. “Since we haven’t seen you in a few years.” 

Tony’s eyes flickered between hers and then cast around the room, taking stock of each one of them in turn. This was all happening so quickly, Steve couldn’t help but think. A few minutes ago they had just started facing the reality of a teenaged, _living_ Tony Stark in their midst, and already they were laying out some of the most mind-boggling facts in their existence at his feet. 

Desperate to hit the brakes, or at least steer them into somewhat friendlier waters, Steve spoke up. “We were friends,” he said, and Tony’s wide eyes turned back to him. “We’ve been missing you pretty badly, Tony, so we’re – we’re real glad you’re here.” 

“Captain America is friends with me?” he asked, voice rising in incredulity. “That’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard yet.” 

And incredibly, though maybe not considering who they were dealing with, he somehow reached around himself and pulled out a bottle of Scotch from somewhere and uncorked it, taking a drink before anyone of them could react. 

“Hey, hey!” a chorus of voices went up around the room as they all lunged forward indignantly. Tony lowered the bottle from his lips and looked at them like they were crazy. 

Clint got to him first, his experiences with his own kids likely coming into play. “What do you think you’re doing?” he said as he swiped the bottle from Tony’s hands. “You’re 17 years old!” 

Tony scoffed. “Please, I’ve been drinking for years.” He tried to grab the bottle back out of Clint’s hands, but Clint just shoved him back down on the couch and returned to his seat, tucking the alcohol behind him. Tony’s glare increased in strength. He looked about as ferocious as a newborn puppy, Steve thought, and swallowed down a smile. 

“That why you drink like an old man?” Clint goaded as he returned Tony’s stare full-force. Steve wanted to groan. As much as he loved Clint, sometimes the man just didn’t know when to quit. For all that he had been the first to comprehend the situation, something about Tony’s arrival seemed to be rankling him more than the rest. 

“What the fuck kind of teenager drinks – “ he took the bottle out to glance at it, then quickly shoved it back away as Tony’s eyes fell on it greedily. “50 year aged Scotch?” 

“Clint,” Steve said warningly as Tony opened his mouth to reply. Tony looked at him uncertainly, and Steve’s heart twisted as he tried not to think about how surprised Tony was – how he _always_ had been – whenever Steve took his side about anything. 

“We should probably get you down to the medical bay and do some tests, make sure everything’s okay after your…travels,” Bruce cut in. Natasha raised an eyebrow and looked at Tony, who didn’t disappoint. 

Steve tried to feel more annoyance than affection as Tony quickly and characteristically shut that line of thought down, but he had to admit, if only to himself, that it was a lost cause. 

“No, I want to know more about me,” Tony said. “Hey, do you have any pictures?” 

The glass wall facing them flickered into a screen before any of them could react. And there was the annoyance – he’d forgotten just how presumptuous Tony and everything he created always turned out to be. 

“Here you go, Boss,” FRIDAY said eagerly. 

Tony glanced up at the ceiling with a frown, clearly unsure how to react to her presence. He looked just how Steve had felt walking into the tower and hearing JARVIS speak for the first time, though it was probably even weirder for this Tony since this disembodied voice was treating him like authority figure. 

He turned back to the screen and his eyes lit up as several pictures of Tony as an adult, mostly in the years after him becoming Iron Man, flashed across. Steve just hoped FRIDAY had the presence of mind to curate the information she was showing him a little, at least enough to ease him into some of the harder to believe aspects of Tony’s later years. 

Tony was clearly unphased. “I knew it!” he crowed. “I always knew I’d get hotter every year I got older.” 

Steve closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Unbelievable. 

“Like a damn good vintage,” Tony said with a grin, then cast a hopeful look over to where Clint had stashed his alcohol. 

Still working through the ramifications of everything that had occurred over the past few minutes, Steve had no time to prepare before Tony was shifting sideways and grinning over at him. 

“What do you think, Cap?” he said, and Steve recognized that look, he knew Tony was just trying to wind him up, but the name _Cap_, even in Tony’s younger voice, had him reeling enough that he wasn’t able to get his defenses up in time. 

“You’d hit that, right?” Tony asked, shit-eating grin stretching across his smug little face. 

_Teenager_, Steve reminded himself. _Tony. Trying to get under your skin, you know this, he always does this_. Desperately, Steve tried to hold onto his composure, but Natasha’s ascending eyebrows and the way Tony’s face turned to surprise, then consideration, told Steve that he was not succeeding. At all. 

And yes, there was the heat burning across his face and down even towards his neck. Fuck, he thought succinctly. 

There was an ugly look on Clint’s face. “Really?” he asked, and Steve sputtered, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Five minutes in, and he was ready to strangle Tony with his own two hands. 

_He wasn’t prepared for this_. He’d built up all his strategies against the adult Tony’s shenanigans; he had nothing in stock to deal with all of that irreverent energy packed down and jammed inside a tiny, untried _teenager_. 

“Aw, don’t give him a hard time,” Tony cooed, interrupting his train of thought. Tony leaned his head down on his shoulder and smirked up at him. “Every single one of you would fuck adult-me if you had the chance.” 

_God_. And there was the truly towering fury swelling up inside him that he’d felt so often around Tony, and inside the others too if their responses were any judge. 

Tony held his gaze, eyes hard now and unrepentant. 

It was almost as if Tony _wanted_ this reaction. He seemed more settled into himself with everyone around raging at him, if that was even possible. It was almost like he’d tried to get them riled up on purpose, but what would be the point? Unless this was preferable to whatever was going on with Tony before. But Tony had to have been feeling pretty unsteady for this to be an improvement, and – oh. Huh. 

Steve felt the anger wash away from him, and surprise grew on Tony’s face as he watched him, then clearly tried to get a handle back on the situation. It was a little bewildering, being able to watch Tony’s usual strategies played out in real-time by this younger version in front of them, even if Steve still had no idea what Tony would do next or how Steve should respond. Case in point: the next thing that came out of Tony’s mouth. 

“If it’s one thing I know about other people, it’s what they look like when they want to fuck me,” Tony shrugged. 

He seemed to notice then how the mood sobered up around the room, and he grimaced, casting about for a diversion. It was almost fascinating to watch Tony’s eyes snap between them quickly, calculating – and then land on Natasha. Oh, great. 

“Though this one here would probably bite my head off and eat me when we were done,” Tony said, affecting a grumbling pout. “Like a praying mantis.” 

Natasha took a deep breath. Tony grinned at her again. But it was Clint who responded. 

“God, you are such a child,” he snapped. “As immature as you were when you were older, it’s frankly ridiculous that you could be any worse now.” Clint’s face was set into an angry scowl, and once again Steve felt powerless to intervene. He was only hanging on for the ride. 

“You don’t know anything,” Clint spat out. “Fucking grow up already.” Bruce looked at him doubtfully and gestured to Tony as if to indicate that they were, in fact, in the presence of someone who had not actually matured into adulthood yet. 

But Tony was already leaning up to retaliate. “I don’t know anything, huh? I’m 17 years old and I already have 3 Bachelor’s degrees and a fucking Master’s. You look like you didn’t even go to college,” he sneered. 

Clint sprang to his feet, and he and Tony were in each other’s faces in an instant. The other three quickly pulled them apart, and Steve glared at Clint as he pushed him bodily away from where Natasha was holding Tony down on the couch. Bruce stood in the middle, huge green hands held up between them and the beginnings of a Hulk-reminiscent rage starting to glower on his face. 

“That’s enough, Clint,” Steve snapped. “He’s just a kid.” 

Clint scoffed and stalked away, snagging the Scotch from his chair as he went. Steve watched him go, unwilling to turn around and see whatever expression was on Tony’s face at the moment. 

Natasha sighed. “We need to get a handle on this,” she said. 

At that moment, FRIDAY spoke up after wisely staying out of the previous fracas. “Don’t worry,” she chirped. “I’ve already alerted Colonel Rhodes.” 

Steve turned back around just in time to see Tony’s face light up to an astonishing degree. For some reason, his stomach churned even harder at the look of unbridled delight shining in Tony’s eyes. 

“Rhodey?” he asked hopefully, then seemed to breathe all of his tension out at once as FRIDAY replied in the affirmative. 

He was quiet and almost docile, for him at least, for the next few hours until the Colonel arrived. They entertained him, so to speak, by answering his questions about his life as much as they could without dropping too many bombshells on him at once. 

Eventually the conversation turned toward Steve, and how he came to be here. He told Tony about how he had survived cocooned in ice at the bottom of the ocean, how he had been found and resuscitated almost fifteen years ago at this point. 

When he mentioned his discovery, Tony glanced up at him sharply. “So Howard did it then?” he asked, and Steve wanted to kick himself for what felt like the umpteenth time that day. “I always thought he was out of his mind, always obsessing about finding you.” 

Tony was looking at him expectantly, and Natasha was looking at him too, her steady gaze letting him know it was up to him to decide how to handle this. 

“Well, no,” Steve said, forcing himself to maintain eye contact as Tony’s expression drew together in confusion. “Someone else did.” 

A beat or two passed, then Tony looked down at his lap and nodded decisively. “So Howard’s dead, then,” he said, voice curiously free of inflection. 

No one knew what to say. Tony continued, “And my mom?” 

Steve hated how he could hear Tony’s voice quavering on that question. Tony eyed them and sighed, correctly interpreting their silence. 

“Ok then,” he said, pretending to interest himself in picking something off of his shoe. “I mean, they were pretty old when they had me, so I guess it makes sense.” 

Thankfully, Natasha interrupted at that point and steered the conversation back to safer topics with the effortlessness born of years of training. Tony didn’t even notice. 

But he did ask them later, tentatively, if Jarvis was still around, and Steve had to watch his face fall yet again with that news. He wanted to ease this pain for Tony, reassure him that he’s not alone and he does have family and friends who love and support him, but Steve supposed he forfeited that right years ago, so he stayed silent. 

Finally, _finally_, Rhodes got there. Tony had been getting antsy, asking increasingly difficult to answer questions about his life and the technology that surrounded him here in the future, when FRIDAY announced the Colonel’s presence and the man himself stepped through the door. 

“Rhodey!” Tony yelled, and launched himself towards him. Steve couldn’t take his face off of Rhodes as his eyes watered, and he drank in the sight of the best friend he’d been without for so long. It was clear that Tony’s age didn’t matter in the slightest bit to Rhodes, and a feeling of rightness settled over Steve’s shoulders, knowing that here was someone who could and already had taken Tony just as he was and loved him for it, for all the years that they’d known each other. 

Halfway across the room to Rhodes, Tony suddenly fumbled to a halt and turned a surprising shade of crimson, staring up at his friend with a look Steve would call bashful if it was on anyone’s face other than Tony Stark. Rhodes just huffed out a gentle smile and covered the rest of the distance between them, pulling Tony into his arms before the boy could think twice. 

Steve had realized a long time ago that watching those two interact was a great way to pick up tips on Tony-wrangling, a point that was only reiterated now, at the tail end of a relationship that stretched back decades. 

He smiled as well as he watched Tony melt into Rhodes’s arms, looking truly relaxed for the first time that day, and more than halfway to tears. Rhodes spoke quietly into his hair where his face was buried for a long time, murmuring soft words that even Steve couldn’t hear as Tony clung to him in relief. 

Steve looked away, feeling like they were intruding on a private moment. He wondered if they should leave and give the two their privacy. Tony at least seemed to have forgotten that anyone else was in the room with them. 

Tony preempted Steve’s half-hearted consideration of removing himself and the rest of the team by ignoring them completely and starting a conversation with Rhodes without the slightest thought to their audience. Oh well then, Steve thought, then settled back down beside Natasha, who was watching the two reunite with a small smile on her face. 

“You look great,” Tony was saying shyly as he smiled up at Rhodes, blinking through the tears standing in his eyes. Then he looked down and hesitantly touched a hand to the braces starting at Rhodes’s hips and asked him what had happened. 

Steve tensed, but Rhodes just held Tony closer and said, “I got injured in a battle and was partially paralyzed. You made these for me so I could walk again.” 

The smile that lit up Tony’s face upon hearing that was blinding, breathtaking – Steve literally couldn’t breathe for a moment, his choking only growing in strength as Tony managed to surprise them all yet again – by leaning up and pressing a small kiss to Rhodes’s lips. 

Everyone stared as Rhodes reared back in shock, a hand coming up to touch his mouth as he gaped at Tony. The tension racketed back up through Tony immediately as he seemed to realize his mistake at the same time he remembered the rest of the people in the room. He looked around at each of their astonished expressions with something like fear flickering through his own, then he crumpled into himself and started trying to pull away. 

Rhodes immediately tightened his grip on Tony and refused to let him extricate himself. “Hey, hey, it’s ok Tones, really – “ he murmured as Tony shook his head and put as much distance between them as was possible within the circle of Rhodes’s arms. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Tony said, and anguish tore through Steve’s chest at the devastated look on his face. He couldn’t help but wonder how long these feelings had lasted for Tony, then realized with a start how damn _voyeuristic_ he was being, like he was watching one of those soap operas that came on TV, for Pete’s sake. He started to stand, intent on fleeing the room and this scene he definitely did not need to be a part of, when Natasha’s hand tightened on his arm. 

“He’s already forgotten that we’re here again,” she whispered at him. “Just let them have a moment before exiting en masse and reminding him yet again that everyone here knows more of his business than he does.” 

Steve frowned. Surely it would be better to actually give them their privacy, instead of just acting like they had it, but he couldn’t help being distracted by the scene still unfolding in front of them. And besides, he _was_ worried about Tony. He really did need to know what was going on with his situation, at least for now. 

There was no other reason for _him_ to stay – Natasha clearly had her own reasons. But Steve? No ulterior motives, not at all. He was…there was a good reason for this. Honestly. 

“I just always thought that we would end up together,” Tony whispered. 

Okay yep, now Steve was ready to leave again. This was excruciating. A look from Natasha quelled him before he could move, though. 

“We really never…?” Tony trailed off, looking up at Rhodes through tear-studded lashes. Steve could only imagine being on the other end of that look. _Wait, what?_

Rhodes’s eyes were just as wide as Tony’s as he stuttered back, trying to reply. “N-no, we – I mean, you never…” 

Tony looked absolutely baffled now. “Really?” he asked. “I never?” 

And Rhodes seemed to be remembering something now, or maybe just realizing something that he hadn’t understood before. He said, “Well, you did but I…I thought – I mean, I didn’t know.” 

Tony looked down dejectedly at this. “I didn’t do it right,” he said. “I didn’t show you I meant it.” 

Steve felt like someone had reached into his chest and was wringing his heart mercilessly. God, he never knew. He had no idea – he wondered if anyone had. 

Then he glanced over at Natasha, her steely-eyed gaze piercing the two of them, and he realized that at least one person had known. 

Rhodes folded Tony back into his arms and tucked his head up against his shoulder, shushing him as they swayed together. Steve was absolutely certain they needed to be anywhere else but here right now, and that feeling had nothing to do with the lurch in his stomach or the fleeting thought that he had missed out on something he never even had. 

The Colonel looked up at them as they quietly made their belated way out, lips pursed into a wry expression that let Steve know that he at least was aware of and less than thrilled about their audience. 

“I got Tony for now,” he said. “I’ll get him settled in and let you know if we need anything.” 

Tony didn’t move from where he had his face buried in Rhodes’s neck. Steve took the dismissal gratefully and made his way into the hallway as quickly as he could. 

He needed to go to the gym. 

Later that evening, he was cooking dinner in the kitchen with Clint while Natasha and Bruce poured over something at the table, his huge frame dwarfing hers comfortably as they conversed together. Steve heard the incoming voices first and looked up a moment before the others did to see Rhodes and Tony coming in through the door, apparently still trying to settle Tony’s insatiable curiosity over his life. 

And, they still weren’t paying any mind to the rest of them here. Steve sighed a little, remembering what it was always like back in the day whenever Rhodes came to visit and the rest of them ceased to exist in Tony’s eyes. Just another episode of the Tony and Rhodey show, he thought, but then he had to smile because honestly, the fact that it was even somehow happening was amazing, and he shouldn’t forget it. 

“Wait, I’m married?” Tony asked in disbelief and excitement, his eyes shining a little. FRIDAY helpfully pulled up a recording of Tony and Pepper interacting together, a sweet little moment of them doing exactly what the team was doing in the kitchen now, dancing around each other with smiles on their faces as they cooked something together. 

Their young Tony brightened for a moment as he watched the video, before his expression dimmed and then was carefully tucked back away. 

Steve couldn’t help but feel a little impatient. He knew he compared the day to a soap opera earlier, but he wasn’t really enjoying this emotional roller coaster they’d all been stuck on since Tony had reappeared. 

Rhodes frowned at Tony too. “What is it, Tones?” he asked. 

“She doesn’t love me,” Tony replied, then lifted his chin in defiance at all of their skeptical looks. “Not _that_ way. That’s the same way mom always looked at Howard.” 

No one responded to that for a good minute. Tony shrugged and aimed for a nonchalant look, failing miserably. 

“Fucking awkward,” Clint muttered as he flipped the tortillas in the pan. 

Steve clenched his jaw. He was really getting fed up with Clint’s attitude about this whole thing, but before he could say anything Rhodes laid his hands on Tony’s shoulders and swung him around to meet his eyes. 

“Tony,” he said seriously. “I don’t know all the ways your relationship changed over the years, but I know that even if you two weren’t _in_ love, you still loved each other very much.” 

Steve stared at the peppers as they sizzled in his own pan. Could this really get any worse? 

That was when the subject of Morgan came up. Steve looked over at Tony, not sure what he would see, but Tony looked terrified. 

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to, because without prompting Rhodes gave Tony a reassuring squeeze. “You’re a great father, Tony. You know I wouldn’t just say that.” 

Tony didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t argue as Rhodes talked to him about his family, telling stories that Steve at least had never heard, and he stood listening quietly as he stirred the vegetables around the skillet. 

Dinner was a subdued affair, and Steve was looking forward to making a break for it when an alert chimed, and he looked up in alarm. No one was supposed to be cleared to arrive tonight either, but Rhodes gestured at him placatingly. 

“I invited him,” he said. 

Steve didn’t have time to wonder who he meant before there was a sudden gasp behind him, and he turned around to see Peter Parker, staring at Tony as if he was seeing a ghost. 

Which, yeah – made a lot of sense, actually. 

His natural inclination was to be unsure if this was a good idea. He would have waited a while before bringing these two together, but then again – he wasn’t the Tony expert here. Rhodes was. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, clearly disbelieving his own eyes. Steve wondered what Rhodes had told him to get him up here on such a short notice. 

Tony didn’t look completely surprised, so Rhodes must have let him know what to expect, but he did seem a little unsure of himself as he stood up from the table and made his way over to his former protégé, who was now a little older than Tony at his current age. 

Then Tony smiled at Peter reassuringly and Steve inhaled sharply. He wasn’t the only one to react that way around the table either. Tony looked heart-breakingly similar to his older counterpart now as he cast a warm gaze over the other teenager and held his hand out to shake. 

“Peter Parker,” he said. “I’ve been really looking forward to seeing you.” 

Peter was obviously at a loss, but Tony dropped his hand and pulled Peter in for a hug within the next moment. Peter went quickly, letting out a sob against Tony’s shoulder as Tony’s face relaxed in amazement and lit up with a surprised sort of joy. 

Tony stayed glued between Peter and Rhodes for the rest of the evening as they finished up with dinner and then made their way collectively back to the common area. Steve could admit now – he really just didn’t want to let Tony out of his sight. This whole day felt like a dream, like if he blinked for too long he’d lose his hold on it and it would slip away, not even lingering in his memory. 

He knew he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. They huddled together on the sofas, watching videos and listening with amusement to Tony and Peter’s building antics as they bounced ideas off of each other, even Clint seeming to relax and enjoy himself as he looked on. 

By the end of the night, the two teenagers were as thick as thieves. Tony had his arm thrown casually over Peter’s shoulders, and Peter was looking like every single one of his dreams had come through. They were trying to coax Rhodes into taking them down to lab to test out something Steve was pretty sure would end in at least one explosion, when a circle of swirling orange light took him by surprise and he leaped up to face the oncoming threat, heart pounding in his throat. 

Then a portal opened and Dr. Strange came striding out. 

“Whoa,” Tony said in a low voice as silence fell across the rest of the room. 

Strange’s gaze landed on Tony and he frowned. “There you are,” he said, fixing a glare onto Tony who shrank down between his two appointed bodyguards. 

Steve balled up his fists in frustration. It was just like Strange to claim to be off-world and unavailable for months at a time, only to waltz back in with a problem only he knew about and only he could solve. 

Bruce must have felt the same way. “Did you do this?” he asked, voice rumbling low in a way that would be a warning for most people he was staring down. 

Strange just huffed. “I’ve been working on bringing these two back,” he said, gesturing at Tony and Natasha. “You’re welcome by the way – but of course this one had to go and screw things up,” he finished with an irritated look at Tony. 

A chorus of voices rose up in protest over this, and Steve was almost surprised to discover his among them. 

Strange just waved them off, pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand. “Whatever,” he said. “I’m tired of dealing with this.” 

With a twist of his wrist he sent a shower of gold sparks at Tony, who jumped as they reached him and dissolved as they hit his skin. 

“He’ll be back to normal by morning,” the sorcerer said, then grimaced. “Or as normal as he’ll ever be.” 

With another bright flash, he disappeared. 

Tony broke the silence first. “I think I’m starting to hate magic,” he said. 

He still looked a little nervous as the rest of them laughed and fussed over him, but with Rhodes and Peter flanking him protectively, Steve knew he would be alright for the duration. 

Still, Steve had something he needed to tell Tony. _This _Tony, while he still had a chance. 

He made his way over to him after some of the others had dispersed, and Tony looked up to greet him with a tentative smile. It was a little embarrassing how much he wanted to bask in Tony’s attention after only receiving a small portion of it throughout the day. 

They shook hands, and Steve managed to get out everything he needed to say – how glad he truly was to see Tony, and to have him back on the team. He could tell that his words touched Tony, who had obviously been expecting more of whatever nonsense Howard had filled his head with about Steve – no, about Captain America. 

Steve smiled to himself as walked away. He would tell Tony the exact same thing tomorrow, even if the older version remembered everything about this day. He wasn’t ever going to let him forget it, not now that he truly understood how big of a void Tony’s absence had left in their lives. 

Later, after Steve had gotten Peter settled in a guest room and the compound had grown quiet again, he walked through the low light of the halls, running his mind back over the events of the past week and letting himself savor the idea of both Natasha and Tony being back with them. 

A low noise caught his attention and he paused, then turned to follow it curiously. He had thought everyone else was in bed…wasn’t it too late for anymore surprise visitors? 

But his investigation led him towards Rhodes’s room, and he noticed that the door was standing slightly ajar. Quietly he walked down the hall towards the room, then paused with his hand on the knob before he pulled it shut. 

He should just take a quick peek inside, make sure everything was alright. Slowly, Steve stuck his head into the darkness of the room, his enhanced eyesight adjusting almost instantly. His heart stuttered in a painful rhythm as he took in the peaceful scene before him, and he couldn’t keep a bittersweet smile from tugging reluctantly across his lips. 

Tony was snuggled up and snoring softly underneath the blankets on Rhodes’s bed, mostly indistinguishable besides a mop of unruly hair and one pale arm sneaking out of the tangle of bedsheets. His arm was wrapped around a sleeping Rhodes, lying on top of the covers in what would have been a respectful distance away from Tony, if the boy hadn’t rolled into the middle of the bed to keep near him. 

The expression on Tony’s face was an unfamiliar one, for him – completely relaxed, and smiling gently. Steve could only imagine the hopeful way an older Tony’s eyes would light up when they woke up, what a sweet conversation that would be, wrapped up in each other and the morning light. 

Silently, he closed the door. 

**Author's Note:**

> I selected “creator chose not to use archive warnings” because during his time as a 17 year-old, Tony incorrectly assumes that he and Rhodey are an item in the future and follows up on that idea in innocent fashion - a quick peck on the lips. At the end while they are waiting for Tony to age back up, he is cuddling with Rhodey while they sleep - Tony under the covers, Rhodey on top of them. That is all, but I wanted to give fair warning in case that is bothersome to anyone.
> 
> Join me in pro-shipping, multi-shipping, Tony Stark stan hell on [tumblr.](https://copper-mouth.tumblr.com/)


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